Homogeneous Catalysis in Liquid Solution

Equation (7.2.1) implies that the rate constant for a reaction increases with increasing pressure if is negative, which is the most common situation. In this case the transition state has a smaller volume than the initial state. On the other hand, pressure increases bring about a decrease in the reaction rate if the formation of the activated complex requires a volume increase. 

Substitution of typical numerical values of AV into equation (7.2.1) indicates that at room temperature 

Activation volumes may be used to elucidate the mechanisms of classes of reactions involving the same functional groups, and changes in activation volumes can be used to characterize the point at which a change in the reaction mechanism takes place in a series of homologous reactions. 

For a detailed treatment of the kinetics of reactions at high pressures, consult the review article by Eckert (14). 

Homogeneous catalytic processes are those in which the catalyst is dissolved in a liquid reaction medium. There are a variety of chemical species that may act as homogeneous catalysts (e.g., anions, cations, neutral species, association complexes, and enzymes). All such reactions appear to involve a chemical interaction between the catalyst and the substrate (the substance undergoing reaction). The bulk of the material in this section will focus on acid-base and enzyme catalysis. Students interested in learning more about these subjects and other aspects of homogeneous catalysis should consult appropriate texts (11,12,16-30) or the original literature. 

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In homogeneous catalysis the reactants and catalyst are dispersed in a single phase, usually liquid. Acid and base catalyses are the most important types of homogeneous catalysis in liquid solution. For example, the reaction of ethyl acetate with water to form acetic acid and ethanol normally occurs too slowly to be measured. 

The Michaelis-Menten equatioa 10.2-9, is developed in Section 10.2.1 from the point of view of homogeneous catalysis and the formation of an intermediate complex. Use the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model of surface catalysis (Chapter 8), applied to the substrate in liquid solution and the enzyme as a colloidal particle with active sites, to obtain the same form of rate law. 

Catalysis in liquid-liquid biphasic systems has developed recently into a subject of great practical interest because it provides an attractive solution to the problems of separation of catalysts from products and of catalyst recycle in homogeneous transition metal complex catalysis. Two-phase systems consist of two immiscible solvents, e.g., an aqueous phase or another polar phase containing the catalyst and an organic phase containing the products. The reaction is homogeneous, and the recovery of the catalyst is facilitated by simple phase separation. 

The use of liquids in homogeneous catalysis thus means not only a liquid support and from there a basic intervention in the handling and the operation of the catalyst, but also a modern separation technique for efficient work-up in organic synthesis [3], Figure 3 illustrates the enormous importance of the biphasic technique for homogeneous catalysis the catalyst solution is charged into the reactor together with the reactants A and B, which react to form the solvent-dissolved reaction products C and D. The products C and D have different polarities than the catalyst solution and are therefore simple to separate from the catalyst phase (which may be recycled in a suitable manner into the reactor) in the downstream phase separation unit. 

In 1999 Blanchard et al. reported a good solubility of carbon dioxide in l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate at high pressures, while the ionic liquid did not dissolve in carbon dioxide. Therefore, supercritical carbon dioxide is suited to extract organic solutes from ionic liquids, and also continuous flow homogeneous catalysis in ionic liquids carbon dioxide systems is possible. First spectroscopic studies show that the anion dominates the interactions with carbon dioxide by Lewis acid-base interactions. However, the strength of carbon dioxide anion interactions did not correlate with carbon dioxide solubility. Thus, strong anion-carbon dioxide interactions were excluded as major cause for the carbon dioxide solubility in ionic liquids. Instead, a correlation of carbon dioxide solubility and the ionic liquid molar volume was observed. Additionally, a significant volume decrease of dissolved carbon dioxide was... 

Thus far we have considered only homogeneous catalysis in which all reactants and the catalyst are in the same phase (in solution). In heterogeneous catalysis, however, at least two phases are present in the reaction mixture. As mentioned earlier the most common types are systems with a solid catalyst in contact with substrates in the gaseous or liquid phase (356, 368). 

As a new strategy for the liquid-liquid biphasic reaction system, emulsion catalysis has not been well discussed in the past reviews. In this chapter, we will focus on the application of emulsion catalysis in organic reactions. The chapter is arranged as three parts based on the reaction types, and highlights the relation between homogeneous catalysis (in solution) and heterogeneous catalysis (in the heterogeneous dispersion). 

A catalyst is defined as a substance that influences the rate or the direction of a chemical reaction without being consumed. Homogeneous catalytic processes are where the catalyst is dissolved in a liquid reaction medium. The varieties of chemical species that may act as homogeneous catalysts include anions, cations, neutral species, enzymes, and association complexes. In acid-base catalysis, one step in the reaction mechanism consists of a proton transfer between the catalyst and the substrate. The protonated reactant species or intermediate further reacts with either another species in the solution or by a decomposition process. Table 1-1 shows typical reactions of an acid-base catalysis. An example of an acid-base catalysis in solution is hydrolysis of esters by acids. 

The first example of homogeneous transition metal catalysis in an ionic liquid was the platinum-catalyzed hydroformylation of ethene in tetraethylammonium trichlorostannate (mp. 78 °C), described by Parshall in 1972 (Scheme 5.2-1, a)) [1]. In 1987, Knifton reported the ruthenium- and cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation of internal and terminal alkenes in molten [Bu4P]Br, a salt that falls under the now accepted definition for an ionic liquid (see Scheme 5.2-1, b)) [2]. The first applications of room-temperature ionic liquids in homogeneous transition metal catalysis were described in 1990 by Chauvin et al. and by Wilkes et ak. Wilkes et al. used weekly acidic chloroaluminate melts and studied ethylene polymerization in them with Ziegler-Natta catalysts (Scheme 5.2-1, c)) [3]. Chauvin s group dissolved nickel catalysts in weakly acidic chloroaluminate melts and investigated the resulting ionic catalyst solutions for the dimerization of propene (Scheme 5.2-1, d)) [4]. 

The term Supported Ionic Liquid Phase (SILP) catalysis has recently been introduced into the literature to describe the heterogenisation of a homogeneous catalyst system by confining an ionic liquid solution of catalytically active complexes on a solid support [68], In comparison to the conventional liquid-liquid biphasic catalysis in organic-ionic liquid mixtures, the concept of SILP-catalysis offers very efficient use of the ionic liquid. Figure 7.10 exemplifies the concept for the Rh-catalysed hydroformylation. 

Apart from acid-base catalysis, homogeneous catalysis occurs for other liquid-phase reactions. An example is the decomposition of H202 in aqueous solution catalyzed by iodide ion (II). The overall reaction is... 

Another solution to the problem of catalyst/product separation is the biphasic catalysis. The liquid biphasic catalysis became an attractive technology for potential commercial application of enantioselective homogeneous catalysis. The most important features of such systems are related to the fact that both reaction rate and e.s. may be influenced by the number of ionic groups in water-soluble ligand or by addition of surfactants. Descriptions of water-soluble ligands and the recent results in the rapidly progressing area of biphasic enantioselective catalysis are available in recent reviews [255,256],... 

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